The allure of decapitation

So what is it with crab spiders? Why must they bite the head off their victims? Other predators are not nearly so insulting: Wolves take a chunk out of the middle, alligators take an arm or a leg, and snakes choke down the whole thing at once. But crab spiders have no tact.

“Crab spider” is a general term for many types of spiders that look and move like crabs, and many of them will eat bees. They don’t target bees specifically but will consume any type of invertebrate they can wrap their legs around.

I’m not a fan of spiders because they have too many legs. More importantly, when a creature’s eyes are arranged in rows, it creeps me out. But crab spiders attract my attention because I’ve watched them pluck foraging bees right out of the air and eat them, head first, with no social grace whatsoever.

The spiders in the photos below are Misumena vatia in the family Thomisidae. This species is able to change color from yellow to white to match the flower on which it sits. The great camouflage allows them to easily snare a meal. When the spiders remain white while sitting on a flower of a different color, such as the one on the California lilac below, their coloring is thought to mimic bird droppings and, as such, they appear to be harmless.

The crab spiders don’t spin webs, but ambush invertebrates when they visit a flower. They paralyze their prey with a venomous bite and then consume it at their leisure. The eight small eyes allow it to detect the slightest movement. True to their name they can move crablike forward, sideways, and backwards. When prey comes close, their forelegs rise up to strike in crab fashion. I photographed both of these smarmy creatures in my garden.

Rusty
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